At this very moment, Simone Biles has five skills named after her. Two skills on floor, two on vault, and one on beam.
In 2023, Biles became the first female gymnast to successfully land the Yurchenko double pike at an International competition, the 2023 World Championships to be exact.
As a result, the skill became known as the Biles II.
The Biles II is widely considered the hardest vault in the world. And now, she’s saying goodbye to it.
On Sept. 2, Biles took to Instagram to share two photos of herself sitting on the vault with white flowers all around it.
“Rest in peace Yurchenko double pike,” Biles wrote in the caption as fans and fellow gymnasts praised her for making history.
“Gone, but literally never forgotten,” USA gymnastics commented. “I’m dead. You win (obviously),” Nastia Liukin added.
“Grateful we got to witness it,” another person wrote alongside the goat emoji.
“Vault Queen! Take a bow! You deserve your flowers,” another fan said, as Samantha Peszek wrote, “Legendary.”
After landing the Biles II on vault during the Olympics in Aug., Biles showcased her signature smile and then did the sign of the cross.
Watch:
.@Simone_Biles on vault is the moment ✨
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) August 1, 2024
15.766 to open the all-around competition!
????: @NBCOlympics & @peacock #ParisOlympics
pic.twitter.com/gFC0Qxs3uA
In her Netflix documentary “Simone Biles: Rising,” Biles admitted that the Biles II is a scary death-defying vault to throw no matter how many times she does it.
“It’s just scary. And it’s every time you do it, you’re scared,” she said.
“The Yurchenko double pike, I don’t know if anybody even thinks how difficult it is,” journalist Celine Nony said in the documentary.
“The height she gets is absolutely extraordinary,” fellow journalist Olly Hogben added. “The pike position, from a physics point of view, is very very difficult to rotate.”